


To Right a Wrong

by bonyenne



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis, Doctor Who
Genre: Gen, The Doctor needs companionship, The Problem of Susan, words of wisdom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-06
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-10-15 07:18:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10552300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bonyenne/pseuds/bonyenne
Summary: The Doctor meets up with several mysterious youths throughout the years and learns some very important lessons. Eventually he gets the chance to pass them on.





	1. The Just

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After making the darkest decision he's ever had to face, the Doctor meets a wise young boy.

“I’m not going to say it wasn’t your fault,” the boy said, “because it could be, although to be perfectly honest I don’t think it matters whether it was or not.”

The Doctor looked around, but there was nobody else within earshot, and if he recalled correctly cellular phones hadn’t been invented yet. The boy settling next to him appeared to be human, maybe about ten or eleven years old. 

“What matters is that you think it was, and what you’re going to do about it. You can’t go on like this, after all. It’s not fair to whoever you betrayed, including yourself.”

“The people I betrayed? How do you – what do you mean, myself?”

“Well, aren’t we always betraying ourselves when we’ve failed the people close to us?”

“Failed?” The Doctor snorted. “I guess you could call it that. But why should  _ I _ matter one bit when none of them are left?”

The boy looked at him then, really looked at him, with eyes older and wiser than any child’s had right to be. The Doctor couldn’t say why, but somehow the boy understood, found him lacking, and still had faith that he could improve.

“If that’s what you think then you’re a right ass. You’ve got all the time in the world left to make things right, and none of it at all if you don’t start now. Have you not heard of honoring the dead? Maybe you can’t do anything for them, but there will be others who need you.”

The Doctor snorted. “Easy as that, hmm? I suppose you’re going to say something empty and stoic like ‘keep calm and carry on’ next?”

“Is that something people say? I’ve been out of touch recently.” The boy trailed off and they sat for a while in silence watching the crowds swirl as the trains came and went. The Doctor jumped when the boy spoke up again. He didn’t fidget like most children, and although the Doctor hadn’t exactly forgotten he was there, he seemed to have a way of fading into the background. 

“Expect yourself to be better, and have faith that you can be. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Find companions who can guide and support you along the way.” The boy smiled with a hint of sadness, and for a moment the Doctor thought he saw one of the great kings of old. “Be Just.”

Did he even deserve companionship after killing his entire race? The boy’s time stream seemed to sing to him: a high pure note, and for a brief moment he wondered if he should ask him to —  

“Hey Ed, I’ve got everything sorted! Shall we see if we can find a new torch for you before we get to school?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Ninth Doctor meets Edmund. Takes place immediately after the events of Prince Caspian and right before the Doctor meets Rose.


	2. The Valiant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After erasing himself from the mind of someone very important to him, the Doctor meets Lucy.

It was trains again the next time he heard the ringing. It took him a moment to place the sound – it had been at least a hundred years and multiple companions since the last, and the tone seemed... off somehow. A newspaper on one of the tables said it was 1949. The boy would be about 19 or 20 now, same age as Rose had been when they’d met. The Doctor snorted. Fitting to meet him again at another time in which he desired no companionship.

He briefly wondered whether to seek him out anyway or to continue searching for the temporal disturbance the TARDIS was registering, but his thoughts were cut short when a laughing teenage girl entered the dining car and the sound suddenly snapped into focus. It was different after all. Higher, but complementary, like the next note up in a chord. It was brighter too, and much, much louder. She turned away from the counter just in time to catch him staring and confusion flitted across her face, followed by a dawning realization.

“Oh, hello! I believe you’ve met my brother.”

Ah – that explained the similar sound, but opened new questions, like how she recognized his new regeneration and where multiple children had learned how to carry themselves like royalty (more, even, with an armful of biscuits than most queens he’d seen without arms full of biscuits). She did seem to enjoy eye contact more than her brother though, and before he knew it she was sitting across from him, hand on her heart and tears in her eyes. 

“You are in pain and so very alone, you poor thing.”

“Well….” He tilted his head and shrugged as he drew out the word. It seemed to be enough, so he accepted the offered biscuit. “And you are?”

“Lucy,” she paused, considering, then, “the Valiant.”

It seemed to be important – even moreso than her surname. The way she said it rang a bell….

“Lucy-the-Valiant…” The memory snapped into focus. “…and Ed-the-Just?”

She nodded, continuing. “and Peter the Magnificent, and...” Again with the trailing off; interes ing children, these. She gazed out the window, looking beyond the horizon to a landscape that wasn’t there. “I didn’t realize you’d met Edmund too, but he has always played things closer to the heart.”

Peter must be the name of the older one, who’d whisked Edmund away before the Doctor could. 

“Well I suppose they were both there…. it was several years ago, at that. I’m surprised your other brother remembered; it was Ed who did all the talking.”

Her face wasn't nearly as composed as her brother's. First surprise, then other thoughts too fast to pin down flickered across her face, although none came out. She laughed, high and clear like the note he could still hear ringing around them. “Well I guess it’s not really that important who told me about you.”

They watched each other silently for a mile or so. The Doctor rested his chin in his hand and considered her, idly tapping his cheek with one long finger. This family certainly knew how to think before speaking. She seemed to be searching his eyes for something. He refused to look away but almost wished he was wearing his glasses, just to dim the intensity somehow.

“From one healer to another, sometimes we need to treat ourselves first if we want to be able to help others.”

He blinked, and she continued.

“Unfortunately, there is no magical vial that can cure wounds of the heart. It's unfair, when they're often so much worse than the other kind.” She sighed. “Perhaps it is for the better that we can't make the imprints go away just like that. How else would we grow if not for our experiences, both painful and otherwise?"

He thought of all the things Donna had gained in their travels lost now for good, and his mouth twisted. "Sometimes we have no choice but to erase it all."

She sat back, her face clouding over. "I’ve never understood the need to forget as well as I should have. It is truly my greatest failure. I wish I could —”

She stopped and shook her head. “Please forgive me. I am truly sorry for your loss. Take your time and grieve, and when you are ready, smile because they were yours. Whether they are memories or dreams, you had them for a time and that’s worthy of celebration. The ones you've loved and lost have made your life better in no small part – live with gratitude for the gift you've been given.”

The car jostled just then, and sped up. He leaned forward, pushed by a growing sense of urgency.

“Are you the reason why I’m here?”

She looked over his shoulder and smiled. He turned but there was nothing there. “Perhaps, but I think it’s time for you to go now.”

“Will you come with me?”

“Thank you,” she said, “but my next adventure lies elsewhere.” She grabbed his hands and kissed them. “Take comfort in the fact that the ones you leave behind have joys yet ahead of them, with or without you, in this world or the next. Though we mourn our losses we must be brave and continue to pray for them.”

She gathered the rest of the biscuits and left the dining car calling for her brothers. Minutes later, as the TARDIS faded, her usual noise briefly mingled with another screech, long and loud. The Doctor, lost in contemplation, never heard it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place after the Doctor wipes Donna's memories and during The Last Battle (just before the train crash).


End file.
